Walking Over Cracks with Cockroaches

Walking over cracks with cockroaches reported in New Scientist, 16 February 2007. Robot researchers in the US have been "copying biological examples" as they work on building robots that can walk over broken terrain. Researchers at the University of California and Pennsylvania University studied high speed videos of spiders and cockroaches running across a wire mesh to help them understand how they can negotiate surfaces with gaps. They found that "the physical design of the insects' and arachnids' legs" enables them to negotiate such surfaces. Spiders have spines on their legs which can support the body when pushed down vertically onto a surface, but fold back when the leg is lifted. Cockroaches held their legs out horizontally so that they gripped the mesh with other parts of the leg, not just their feet. The researchers then modified their six legged robot by adding spines and redesigning the legs so that more surface made contact with the terrain. They found the modified robot could cross a grid more easily than their previous model. The scientists hope their research will help them design rescue robots that can manoeuvre over uneven, gap ridden terrain.

Editorial Comment: Notice how evolutionist engineers can't help using the word "design" when they see it. They recognise that the spines on the spiders' legs and the structure of cockroach legs are not just naturalistic or random. If engineers are able to build a robot that can cross cracked surfaces, it will involve their creative design and construction (albeit copied and unoriginal). Therefore, they are being deliberately ignorant when they claim that spiders and insects evolved by chance. If the engineers do manage to build a robot that is useful in rescue operations the people who are rescued should be grateful to the engineers who built it. Even more, they should be grateful to the Creator God who designed the "biological examples" that the engineers copied. Most of all they should be grateful to the Creator God who gave them life in the first place, and sent the Lord Jesus Christ to rescue us from our rebellion against Him and give us eternal life. (Ref. robotics, biomimmicry, gait)